Second Coalition War
The Kingdom of Etat de l'Or, a defeated power of the previous Coalition war, became involved in the Scottish Civil War, defeating multiple rebel factions and secured some allies in the region. They then turned their eyes on the nation of Forlorn, striking them in a raid for valuables. This brought upon a chain reaction of alliances that resulted in Etat de l'Or facing a large coalition of minor and medium powers. Calling on their allies for aid, the Northmen joined Etat's side in the war. The Alliance, as North-Etat became known, were successful in breaking the backs of multiple Coalition nations, and soon the combatant powers of the Coalition fell to 3 from 8. The Order stepped in at this juncture, attempting to broker a White Peace between the remaining warring powers. Negotiations failed, and the Order ended up on the Coalition side to defend them while attempting to pressure them into a White Peace. This proved fruitless as the Coalition was determined to continue the fight. The Brotherhood then declared its support for the Order position, and alongside the Order restated the call for peace. The Brotherhood and Order were neutral: the Order threatened to withdraw their protection for the Coalition if they did not accept a White Peace, and the Brotherhood threatened to intervene against the Coalition if it did not accept a White Peace. The Coalition refused and on the 31st of May the Brotherhood offensive began, with the Order forces withdrawing from the Coalition. Both Prussia and Forlorn agreed to White Peace. On the 2nd of June, the Alliance paid Ishkaballaa'nar $10,000 to end the war. The Brotherhood was offered and accepted a White Peace from Ishk, thus ending the war. Background After the harsh defeat in the First Coalition War, the members of Etat De l'Or started building a huge floating palace in the east away from the main powers; amassing a massive wealth and living in a time of prosperity. With all this power in his hands Empereur Celoxia turned his sight to the chaos produced by the rebellions in Scotland, and thus he got involved in the Scottish Civil War, eventually subduing both the Royalists and Bridgenists, while bringing Albion to his side as his eyes in the East. Etat De l'Or also defeated its old enemies the Harbinger in a swift war where the leader of the Harbingers was forced into slavery for Etat. Still allied with the Northmen, Etat was in the prime of its power and so they fell victim to their warlust when they decided to attack Forlorn. Forlorn was a kingdom that had established in the northern wastelands and had built a magnificent city; mostly composed of Norwegians the Kingdom was efficient and had the potential to become a decent middle sized power. The Kingdom had established defensive alliances with the Wolfpack and the Celts, thus provoking a massive diplomatic chain-reaction. The Begining The Seige of Forlorn Learning of the great wealth of the northern Kingdom of Forlorn, Etat decided to raid it. When they got there, however, they found a fierce resistance from the Forlorn warriors and the siege became drawn out with Forlorn guarding the gate and Etat settled ouside the walls. The Celts, Forlorn's new allies, were close, and after realizing they had the numbers on their favor Forlorn sallied out to crush Etat while the Celts charged from outside, however, the "Empereur" ordered his army to fall back and engaged in delaying tactics against his pursuers. The seige was broken and all attackers killed, however, some defenders were lured into a ravine and received some losses. Nerva2004, a journalist, was also accidently killed by a Celtic warrior in the fray. Major Events The First Siege of Le Palais des Lumiers A Coalition army of nine soldiers arrived outside Etat's floating fortress and proceeded to construct siege towers to attack it. The initial lone defender of the fortress was soon joined by a further three defenders, making the odds slightly greater than 2 to 1 in the attacker's favour. After a prolonged period while the seige tower was extended towards the Etat fortress, the Coalition army launched an all out assault across. Despite the presence of the fortress, the battle was decided in the waters below it, as both sides took to the waves to engage each other: an Etat sally in an attempt to catch some Coalition soldiers that fell into the water failed when the rest of the Coalition joined their comrades in an epic, if snail-paced, battle in the water. The weight of numbers secured an allied victory. Some Etat fled into the tunnels below the shallow waters, and were slain by Coalition fighters who gave chase. GrnEyedDvl was also slain by Akar in a display of skill. The Northmen join the fray and the Coalition grows Seeing their allies losing a war against superior numbers the Men of the North decided to get involved, this thought accompanied by a series of diplomatic incidents provoked a considerable growth of the coalition. The Kingdom of Prussia joined after being called to arms by the current belligerants, pulling their allies the Belkans along them. The Wolfpack joined due to several small grudges against the Northmen, and a liking of Forlorn. Surprisingly for outside observers, the Ottoman Empire, enemies of the Prussians until the day, and only option to increase the Alliance numbers, were unprovokedly attacked by a Northmen raiding party and so joined the Coalition along their previous rivals. The Second Siege of Le Palais des Lumiers http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwBfIFbzqmI&feature=player_embedded Following the first defeat of Etat at their home base, the Coalition returned to fight once more some days later. This time the defenders numbered six to the attacking ten: two Northmen were reinforcing the Etat lines. Despite catastrophic opening moves that saw the death of 5 of the 10 attacking Coalition soldiers during the boarding of Etat's base, the Coalition once more emerged victorious when the Etat/North defenders did not press their advantage, allowing the remnants of the first boarding party to retain their foothold on the fortress and await their respawning allies as they formed a second wave. Once aboard the fortress, the weight of numbers once more proved decisive for the Coalition, who began to win the running engagements that were fought throughout the base; the Etat/North forces unwisely became fragmented and isolated while Coalition forces stuck to larger groups, allowing the Coalition forces to destroy the defenders man by man. Neutral observers noted that the battle was far more an Etat/North defeat than a Coalition victory: while the Coalition did win the day, it was due to gross Etat/North incompetence rather than Coalition skill at arms. Surrender of Coalition Nations Despite the success of the Coalition in the two largest battles of the war, Northman-Etat forces were far more successful than their Coalition counterparts in the large number of skirmishes and raids that occurred on a daily basis. Many Coalition nations had been brought to their knees fairly quickly as a result, and sought peace sooner rather than later. On the 25th of May the mercenary faction MSF disbanded, with their leader, Katsumoto, and his second in command Boris5000 returning to The Brotherhood. On the 26th of May the following factions surrendered: -Celts -Ottomans -Wolfpack -Belka Terms were payment of ten diamonds to the Alliance. Order Intervention The Order of Dalmaitus, on the 29th of May, received a plea for help from the Kingdom of Prussia, one of the remaining Coalition states, to bring the war to a conclusion. The Order entered into the conflict, at first, as a neutral Third Party attempting to mediate a White Peace for the warring states. The Alliance was favourable to an immediate White Peace, while the Coalition refused the offer. Accounts of what followed in the negotiations are muddled, as it is understood to have fallen into fragmented bickering and brokering, with all cohesion rapidly lost. It ended with the Order joining the war against the Alliance. This caused considerable diplomatic fallout amongst the other nations, both those involved in the war and otherwise. Neutral observers were quick to point out that the Order were attacking the only side in the conflict that had actually agreed to their White Peace proposals, while the Order claiming they had resorted to defending the weaker nations, which prompted accusations of hypocrisy as the Order had recently robbed blind the nation of Forlorn, a Coalition nation. After three battles (Battle of the Big BOOM) with the Men of the North the Order decided to abstain from the war so it white peaced the Alliance and ended its alliance with the members of the coalition, however half of the goods stolen from Forlorn were returned as a sign of good will. Brotherhood Intervention The Brotherhood informed the Order of their support on the 30th of May for the Order's position of White Peace for all involved. This was made public on the 31st of May. On the 31st of May Brotherhood forces attacked the Prussian base and attacked the Forlorn base on the 1st of June, whilst the Order withdrew from the Coalition. Prussia left the war on a White Peace, though Prussian and Brotherhood forces never engaged in battle. Forlorn had previously agreed to leave the war on a White Peace shortly after Brotherhood entry to the war, but the Brotherhood was not informed. The garrison of four troops was attacked, with two being slain and two fleeing into the night. One Brother died falling into an open-air lava pit outside the Forlorn base, but escaped the pit and died to flames. His equipment was recovered. Shortly afterwards the White Peace was officially signed, and equipment captured by the Brotherhood was returned to Forlorn as a gesture of good faith. War's End On the 2nd of June the Alliance agreed to paying 10,000 dollars to Ishk, the last remaining Coalition power, to bring about an end to the war. The Brotherhood was then sent a White Peace offer by Ishk, which it accepted, thus ending the war entirely. It seems the Northmen were interested in ending this war so they could start some of their plans, like merging Etat and starting the Third Northern-Dwarven War. Aftermath The Second Coalition War was the perfect example of smaller factions balancing the growing threat of the Etat De l'Or-Men of the North that had alreayd triggered the First Coalition War. However, different from this first conflict, the Second Coalition lacked a major nation to put up against the Northmen sheer martial skill, thus, leaving Coalition forces disunited most of the time and easy prey to individual raids. Only Ishkaballaa'nar would try to organize the smaller states into cohesive armies during the two sieges of the Palais des Lumieres, and would continue to fight on an annoying guerrilla war even after the majority of the Coalition had surrendered. By this point of the World's history, we can clearly observe a deterioration in the Men of the North's diplomatic efforts, best prove being the assault on the, for the moment, friendly neu